The exhibition by Liam Gillick, at Le MAGASIN in Grenoble, calls attention to the curatorial training programs, here in association with the Session 23 of the École du MAGASIN.

Le MAGASIN – Centre National d'Art Contemporain de Grenoble presents “From 199C to 199D”, an exhibition project by artist Liam Gillick in association with the Session 23 of the École du MAGASIN.

The exhibition focuses on a selection of Liam Gillick’s work processes from the 1990s, re-conceived within the context of Le MAGASIN after its first iteration, “From 199A to 199B”, at the Centre for Curatorial Studies at Bard College in 2012.

By questioning the role of the curator in his relationship to the artist and the viewer, Liam Gillick calls attention to the curatorial training programs, here the École du MAGASIN. Collaborative strategies, the engagement of the viewer and the role of the institution, the notion of authorship and the relationship between artists and curators, all of these points were questioned by numerous artists of this generation and recontextualized through a number of exhibitions and projects which have influenced the art world to this day.

Through a collaboration between the artist and Session 23 of the École du MAGASIN, Liam Gillick aims to revisit these debates in the today’s context. By re-activating his works, the mutual relationship between the curatorial, the artist, the institution and the viewer are investigated, providing a new perspective on the future of discursive forms of contemporary practice. The exhibition becomes a time game where the near future and the recent past collapse, creating a new scenario in which the artworks and the ideas of the artist are revealed anew; a space of critical exchange and new debates is opened.

Liam Gillick, From 199C to 199D, MAGASIN, 2014. The What If? Scenario Dining table
1996. Courtesy of the artist

“The early 1990s were marked by the rise in power of a “deconstructivist” school of architectural critique, in part influenced by Derrida and the emerging notion of “in between”, a notable component of the key text by Mark Rakatansky: Spatial Narratives. While claiming no relation to this movement, Liam Gillick will nevertheless implement a similar discursive methodology constructed between various descriptive and interpretive fields and between various existing practices and their effects on different levels of discourse”. Yves Aupetitallot, director of MAGASIN.